


Star Child: Collector

by polluxcastor



Category: TWRP | Tupper Ware Remix Party (Band)
Genre: Gen, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Medical, References to Drugs, Violence, non-permanent major character death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-03
Updated: 2017-12-06
Packaged: 2019-02-10 03:04:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 13,999
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12902571
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/polluxcastor/pseuds/polluxcastor
Summary: Doctor Sung travels through time and space to assemble a group of friends to help his mission; to keep boredom from taking anyone else's life. Between gathering a murderous robot, a drug smuggling lion, and an alien prince, things are sure to be interesting.





	1. The Bot

“Star log 67, date 5678.82. Doctor Sung here again with yet another journal entry where nothing has happened from the last time I spoke with you. I have been adrift in space for nearly a century. At least it feels like it. Time is weird. I have finished the necessary repairs on the hyperdrive, though the Groove Station has seen better days. I’ll have to find a spaceport eventually for proper repairs, but I am currently adrift in a still uncharted portion of space somewhere northeast of the Milky Way galaxy. I’ve explored the nearby planets, but there is no life. It’s just an empty wasteland of icy cold deserted planets. No sign of life for at least the next fifteen light years. Maybe even more than that. Anyway, I am going to keep up my search, for as long as it takes. What am I looking for? Some way to beat boredom. I feel the dark clutches of boredom at the edges of my mind every day. This is my purpose. I will update you once I know more. Sung out.”

Doctor Sung let out a long sigh, clicking off the communications portal. He sounded chipper in all the recordings, especially when he listened to them back again later. He didn’t feel chipper though. He felt hopeless. He had been in search of life in this portion of the galaxy, and so far nothing had been found. The ship’s hyperdrive was in working order, thanks to Doctor Sung’s handiwork, but fuel was low. He’d have to stop somewhere and load up on raw materials. It was something to do at least, something to drive the boredom away. 

He stood from his hammock on the bridge. He stretched his arms over his head, taking in the mess around him. He hadn’t cleaned in a while. It was hard running an entire space ship by oneself. The Groove Station wasn’t large by any means, but the ship was so hauntingly empty. He occasionally took walks, though walking through the ship was sort of depressing when you were all alone. 

Sung decided that a walk would be best to get his brain going, but before he could step off the bridge, a high pitched pinging noise rang out, sound bouncing off the walls. Sung whipped around, looking at the source of the noise, the Time Crystal. He hurried over to it, yanking the blanket off the orb. The surface of the orb was lit up bright orange, indicating a life sign signal. Sung gasped. It had been months, at least, since he had seen a signal pop up on the device. The signal was originating back in time, which was a piece of cake for Sung. Time was weird anyway.

He put one hand on the Time Crystal, the other touching his prismatic core. He tilted the Time Crystal in the direction of the signal, which sent him back in time. Once he was dead on, he stopped, pulled his hand off his core and off the crystal, covering it back up with a blanket. He headed over to the main helm punching in a course for the planet the signal was coming from.

Through his viewfinder, he saw the green and blue planet ahead of him. His core thrummed in his chest, filling his body with deep emotion. It was so beautiful. According to the weather notification, the area that the signal was coming from was deep in snow. With this in mind, he pulled on his trusty snow boots, heavy winter jacket, and wrapped a scarf around his neck. He deployed the cloaking device for the Groove Station and deployed the landing gear. 

Within a few minutes, he was landing on the planet's surface, cutting the engines with a quiet hiss. The ship was nearly invisible in the snow. He stepped off the ramp, feeling the crunch of snow beneath his boots. It was brutally cold, but it was so beautiful. He pulled up his tracker, looking at the indicator on the display. The life signal was coming from just a few feet away, but was underground. A brief examination of the area indicated that the signal had to be coming from the cave in the rock face. The opening was a little narrow, but with some maneuvering, Sung was able to slip inside. 

Sung’s prismatic core lit up the interior of the cave. He pulled down the scarf around his face, letting out a soft stream of breath. There was a small path outlined by stalagmites. He stepped carefully, not wanting to disrupt anything. The sensor was going crazy. 

Sung pulled out the scanner, waving it back and forth as he searched for the source of the signal. How strange, he thought, looking at the readings. The machine was going haywire. The life source was close. Sung's prismatic core lit his footsteps as he stepped cautiously in the dark. He was thankful he was looking down, because just a few feet in front of him, the ground suddenly dropped off into a hole. It wasn't very deep, but he could have fallen and injured himself if he hadn't been paying attention. 

He dug in his pocket for a brighter light. He pulled a flashlight out, giving it a good shake before turning it on. The sensor had been mostly correct. In the center of the hole, there was a body, lying face down in the dirt. Sung gasped, hurrying down the edge of the hole, towards the center. 

"Oh no, oh no...." he mumbled, turning over the figure with a grunt of effort. 

The sight before him was certainly very spooky. Before him was a metal chassis, stripped of all important internal parts. Gutted. There was a gnash of metal and flesh parts; limbs attached using bolts and screws of an alien nature, everything covered in a thin black suit. Sung stared into the dull lifeless eyes of the cyborg before him, slightly afraid. Who had dumped him here? Where had he come from? He knew these questions would likely be unanswered. Sung felt as though he had purpose. He had some basic skills in mechanical engineering. He had to fix the Groove Station quite frequently after all. Surely he could fix the cyborg and get him working again! 

Quickly, Sung bolted from the cave, heading back to the ship. He gathered as many items as he could fit into his bag, including a tool kit, extra lights, a first aid kit, a couple snacks, and any spare metal and mechanical bits that he could find. Once back in the cave, he set up the lights and got to work. Getting started on filling in the chest cavity was easy enough. He was blown away by just how complex the borg was. He was almost as complex as himself! Sung could hear the wind howling outside of the cavern. A storm was blowing through. He worked tirelessly, through the night, until the storm passed. The chest cavity was full of parts that would power the rest of the processors in the borg's head, as well as send electrical signals to the limbs as they were supposed to. With a sigh, he closed the chest cavity with a click. Time to power him on. He flipped the switch and…

Nothing happened. 

Where had he gone wrong? He flipped open the chest cavity again, eyes scanning over the wires. He traced the wires going from the chest cavity to his cranial compartment. Everything lined up right with the correct connectors. He frowned, sitting back, trying to figure out what was causing the lack of power. It then clicked. 

“Oh! You need a core!” Sung exclaimed, jumping to his feet. He looked around the remaining parts. Nothing here would work. He scowled, and hurried back to the ship in search of something that would work for this purpose. He dug through the junk room, searching for something, anything that would keep pulse. He brushed the dust off of an 808 Drum machine. 

“It’s perfect!” Sung grabbed it, running as quickly as he could back to the cave. Within a few minutes, the new core, the 808 drum machine, had been installed. He closed the chest cavity, starting up the processor for the borg.

Slowly but surely, the processors churned to life. The movement was slow, but soon Sung could see the bot’s fingers twitch, and hands start to move as the electrical stimulants made their way to the tips. With a slow creaky motion, the bot sat up. The dull hum of the processor echoed through the cave. Suddenly, the red LEDs flickered to life, and the bot turned his attention to Sung almost immediately.

“Hi there!” Sung smiled, giving a little wave to the bot. The bot tilted his head for a split second before he righted his head. “Do you have a name?”

Sung was barely able to get out a word before the bot lunged forward and wrapped his hands around his throat. He squeaked out a cry of surprise, hands scrambling to free himself. The bot stared down at him with murderous intent, sending a chill down Sung's spine. Sung clawed at the hands tightening on his throat, and before he could think of something else to do, the bot let go, shoving him back. Sung fell backwards, pylon hitting the ground with a thud as the bot got up, and marched himself out of the cave. Sung turned, scrambling to his feet to hurry after the bot.

"Wait!" He cried out, but the bot had already left the cave, and was making his way across the snowy hills. Sung attempted to chase after him, but the recent storm left a huge snowdrift that was difficult to move through. How had the bot moved so quickly across the snow? His white and gray chassis had disappeared from Sung's view. He let out a string of ancient curses under his breath, falling to his knees in the snow in defeat. The only life he had come across in nearly centuries, gone.


	2. Havve Hogan

Sung slowly pulled himself out of the snow, moving towards his ship. It was a slow process in the deep snow, but he made it back successfully. He shook his legs free of snow, heading inside the warm interior of the ship. He all but threw himself into his hammock, letting out a sigh.

"Star Log 68, 5679.57, I think. I found life on this planet. It is an M class planet, and according to the star chart my mothers gave me all that time ago, this planet is called Earth. I rather like Earth, although it is very cold and very snowy. I had to use the Time Crystal to follow the signal. I found a cyborg. His metal frame had been gutted. I guess either he was scrapped for parts, or something, but regardless he was just dumped here. How cruel! Whoever dumped him there had to have had time travel capability like myself. He was broken, but I fixed him. I brought him back. I installed an 808 Drum machine in his chest in place of a heart. I didn't have anything else. Maybe a metronome, but that wouldn't have been powerful enough. Now he can keep time better than anything, but there's something wrong. He has murderous intent. He tried to kill me when I brought him back online. He escaped from the cave, and the snow is too deep for me to follow him, but I may try something a bit drastic to locate him. I will update this log again, as soon as I know more. Sung out."

Sung let his hands fall to his sides, off the edge of the hammock. He had to think. The snow was much too deep to try and track down this bot. The best thing to do would be to go forward in time until the snow had melted. Not far, just far enough for the snow to melt, or at least lessen enough to where travel could be done much more easily. Sung stood, heading over to the Time Crystal. According to the readings, the Earth was in an ice age. It would be another 1 million years before the snow would retreat north. He couldn't wait that long. Sung let out a sigh, putting his head in his hands.

"Think!" He shouted, his brain working overtime. He hurried down to the scrap metal deposit, looking for something he could make skis with. With two rough pieces of metal, two metal poles, some rope, and some glue, he went to the workshop, and made two crude skis. They would get him across the snow at least, and hopefully far enough to find wherever the bot had wandered off to. He bundled back up, heading off the ship. He strapped the skis to his feet, pushing off the ramp and heading out into the dark. The sun had set, bringing a cold wind with it.

Sung wrapped the jacket tighter around himself, securing his scarf around his face to keep cold air from getting to his skin. His core shone brightly, searching for tracks in the snow. The bot had left huge tracks, leading into a forested area. Sung pulled out the tracker, the signal showing that the bot was about a mile away. Sung tucked the tracker into his pocket and took off across the snow. The skis were not perfect, but they helped him glide across the top of the fresh powder snow.

The tracker was going crazy. There was another cave system up ahead. Sung could see the sign of a fire and smoke. There were others here! He hurried towards both the fervent beeping of the signal, and the smoke from a fading fire. At the entrance to the cave, he saw the signs of what appeared to be early civilization. There was a scattering of animal bones and pelts, as well as sleeping mats made from woven materials. Sung unhooked his skis, setting them outside the cave entrance, heading inside with caution. Upon entry to the cave however, Sung saw a much more fearful sight.

Among the cave paintings was a smear of what appeared to be dried blood. It hadn't been dry for long. Sung's core illuminated the visceral sight before him. There was blood splattered this way and that, soft fleshy bits splattered against the walls, and the bot was standing in the middle of it, holding a crude bat made from stone. Sung felt nauseated at the sight.

"What have you done?" Sung whispered, voice quivering. Just what was this bot programmed to do? The bot didn't speak. Instead he stood up straight, armor glistening red with blood, both dried and fresh. He stepped forward, lunging towards Sung. He was able to quickly duck out of the way, dodging the blow.

"I really don't want to have to do this..." Sung called to the bot, "So please, if you have any sort of reasoning, please listen to me. I'm only trying to help you." The bot did not respond, instead, lunging forward again. Sung parried the blow, catching the stone bat between his hands, using a surprising amount of strength to rip the bat from the bot's hands. He chucked it aside. The bot looked almost surprised, reaching for Sung instead. Sung took a deep breath before he jumped into the air, delivering a swift high kick to the center of the bot's chest, knocking him back and to the ground. The force of the kick was enough to make the 808 drum machine stutter and fail, causing the bot to shut off.

With a sigh, Sung opened the chest compartment, and disconnected the wires connecting to the 808, including the power source so there was no way the bot would turn back on until he did so. Something had to be done about this programming. Surely there was something that could be done. With a huff of effort, Sung picked up the bot, slinging him over his back. He headed out of the cave, leaving the gory scene behind them. With ease, he reattached his skis, and headed back to the ship. It was a slow journey with the bot on his back, but he made it back in one piece.

Into the ship and down to the lab they went. Sung gently laid out the bot on the metal exam table, moving to open up the core processor. How strange, Sung thought, looking into the processing unit. This technology was something that he was very familiar with. The technology was part of him as well. It wasn't quite the same, but this meant that Sung knew exactly what he needed to do.

It took several hours, and several cups of coffee, but Sung had successfully reprogrammed the murderous intent out of the bot. It wasn't entirely gone, since it had been so deeply ingrained in the bot's core, but it had been lessened significantly. He had also located the speech processor, and flipped it on as well, ensuring that the bot would be able to speak once he was powered back on. He made the necessary repairs to the 808 before hooking everything back in place, and flipping the switch to power the processor. Sung stood back as the bot came to life, red LED lights flickering on.

"Lets try this again shall we?" Sung said, putting his hands up in a defensive position. The bot turned his attention to Sung, tilting his head slightly.

"TRY WHAT AGAIN?" The bot asked, his voice heavy and mechanical.

"Our meeting. The last time I brought you online, you attempted to kill me, as well as murder an entire clan of individuals, perhaps early humans, I’m not sure. There was so much blood." Sung clarified, crossing his arms over his chest.

"I HAVE NO MEMORY OF THIS INCIDENT." The bot spoke firmly, hands gripping the edge of the table.

"Oh that's good then." Sung mumbled. Perhaps he had accidentally wiped that part of the bot's memory. Oh well, "Anyway. My name is Doctor Sung. I am on a mission to find the cure to boredom. I was searching for life in this portion of the universe, and I found you. Do you know how you got here?"

"I DO NOT, DOCTOR." The lifeless stare from the red LEDs was a bit unnerving.

"O....kay....um...." Sung tapped his chin, "Do you know who created you?"

"NO." 

"What about a name? Do you have a name? I can't keep calling you "the bot" forever, now can I?" Sung laughed a little bit, causing the bot to tilt his head. He was silent for a long while. Sung could hear the processor churning softly, filling the silence between them. Finally, he spoke.

"CALL ME HAVVE HOGAN."


	3. The Lion

With the Groove Station back in orbit and fuel gathered, Sung was able to show Havve around the ship. He brought Havve down to the cargo bay. He had set up a makeshift charging station for the bot, since he had a rechargeable battery. 

"Here is a charging station for you. It's probably not the most ideal, but you do have a rechargeable battery. You just need to plug in here." Sung explained, pointing to the outlet.

"I AM VERY WELL AWARE OF HOW TO CHARGE MYSELF, DOCTOR." Havve stated rather plainly, "DO YOU THINK I AM UNAWARE?"

"W-Well, no, but..." Sung stammered.

"THEN DO NOT ASSUME I DO NOT KNOW. I KNOW MANY THINGS, DOCTOR, JUST AS YOU DO." Things were going great. Super. Superb even.

Back on the bridge, Sung reviewed over his findings. Okay, he thought, I found a cyborg on an ice age plagued planet. I installed a drum into his chest to keep him alive. Great. He leaned over the console where the Time Crystal was located, gently pressing on the blanket which covered it.

"I could always consult the Crystal..." Sung mumbled, looking down at the blanket. Reading into the future with the Crystal always took a lot of energy, and sometimes took several hours. The last time he had read into the possible future, he had been out of commission for almost a week.

"WHAT IS THE CRYSTAL?" Havve's booming voice behind him made Sung jump, yelping in fear. It had been so long since another person had been on the ship that the sudden voice frightened him.

"Stars, Havve, you scared me." Sung breathed, putting his hand over his flashing core. It's light fluttered as his breathing slowly calmed. "What is it that you want to know?"

"THE CRYSTAL, DOCTOR. WHAT IS IT?" Havve repeated, tilting his head slightly, looking back and forth between Doctor Sung's flashing core and the crystal that was softly glowing underneath the blanket. 

"Oh. This is a Time Crystal. Members of my people gifted it to this ship. It was a gift in hopes that we, being my family, and the crew of this ship, would find the cure to boredom before the planet collapsed. Sadly, we failed before the planet collapsed, but it doesn’t mean that my plan is null and void. I still plan to find a cure to boredom, because I don’t want to let the people of the universe down. It’s very important to me.” Sung’s voice got a little choked up at the end of his explanation. Havve just simply tilted his head some to the side. 

“I SEE.” He stated, “I ASSUME THAT BY THE NAME, DOCTOR, THIS ALLOWS YOU TO TRAVEL THROUGH TIME.”

“Yes….yes that is correct.” Sung nodded a little, pulling the blanket off the Crystal. “It glows really bright, and since I’ve been sleeping on the bridge, I’ve been covering it with a blanket to keep it from keeping me awake.” Havve just stared at him, eyes glowing menacingly. “I...er…” Sung stammered, clearing his throat, “The Crystal allows me to look into the future. Rather, many possible futures. It cannot predict the exact future, but it helps with making decisions sometimes.” 

“DO YOU PLAN TO USE IT TO FIND OUT A FUTURE FOR US?” Havve asked, tilting his head. 

“Why, yes, yes I do.” Sung stated rather matter of fact, “Though, It will need to be brief, as it usually takes me a while to recover after using the Crystal. I need to be careful. Don’t want to have the same thing happen as last time, which was I nearly shorted out my core and fell into a sleep for about a week.” 

“THAT SOUNDS INCREDIBLY DANGEROUS, AND UNHEALTHY, DOCTOR.” 

“Oh I never said it was healthy.” Sung shrugged a little bit before he put his hand on the Crystal. The surface lit up under his hand, and he then put his other hand on his core. 

Visions flashed through his mind. His brain churned as it processed the images.  
A warehouse filled to the brim with illegal substances, a beast of a man with a blaster pointed dead center, a desert planet, a blue alien, a bustling city, a concert hall, everyone dancing, singing, laughing, boredom nowhere in sight. 

Sung took his hand off the Crystal and off his core, slumping back against the sensors. He punched in a few pieces of data that he had gathered from that vision, and set a course. Wordlessly, he turned to Havve, gently gripping the bot’s shoulders. 

“How well do you think you can drum?” Sung asked suddenly, giving the bot a little shake. 

“YOU INSTALLED A DRUM MACHINE INTO MY CHEST. WHAT KIND OF QUESTION IS THIS?” Havve glared at him, eyes flashing slightly. 

“Oh, right….Silly question.” Sung mumbled, “I have a plan. Our future involves gathering two others from the future, and starting a band on Earth. It’s the perfect plan! Our music will keep boredom at bay! There’s no way that with some fresh jams that we can’t keep the boredom away.”

“DOCTOR, ARE YOU AWARE OF EXACTLY HOW FUCKING CRAZY THIS SOUNDS?” Havve pulled himself out of Sung’s grip, shaking his head, “YOU SOUND LIKE AN ABSOLUTE MADMAN, BUT SOMEHOW I BELIEVE YOU.”

“I would hope so!” Sung grinned. “I am very tired now though, so I’m going to take a quick rest, okay? Okay.” He let out a soft sigh, going over to the hammock. He flipped the lights, settling down in the almost dark, falling asleep almost instantly. 

As he slept, his mind churned, processing the vision that he had seen. He dreamt of a possible home for these new friends. He dreamt of having people around him that wanted him to be around, and just the thought of having friends was enough to make his core thrum with excitement. He turned over some in the hammock, opening his eyes to see Havve Hogan staring back at him a few inches away from his face. 

“SHIT!” Sung gasped, hand clutching his core tightly. “What the heck!” 

“I TAKE IT I FRIGHTENED YOU?” Havve asked, as if it wasn’t obvious. 

“Yes! Yes you did!! Why in the hell were you standing over me like that?” Sung asked, exasperated. 

“YOU WERE SNORING, AND TALKING IN YOUR SLEEP. I WANTED TO ENSURE THAT YOU WERE STILL ALIVE, DOCTOR.” 

“I was dreaming. I was dreaming of the visions that I saw. I saw visions of a peaceful place for all of us. One that was good: a place where we could be in harmony with others. With humans even.” Sung sat up, rubbing at his arms some, “Regardless, this plan is guaranteed to work, somehow. We are nearly at the coordinates.” Sung pulled himself out of the hammock, gently moving Havve aside to look at the readings on the computer. They had reached the coordinates. 

"Look, we're here. Now we just need to go forward in time a few hundred thousand years." Sung gave a little smile, turning on the cloaking device. He put one of his hands on the Time Crystal, and the other hand on his core. With a quick spin of the Time Crystal, they were thrown forward in time. Outside the viewfinder, you could see planets coming and going, before they finally stopped. They were in the center of a bustling metropolis of planets and space ships. Sung's ship automatically picked up on the reading of the lion man's ship. He tracked the sensor to a nearby planet in the same system. With the cloaking device still deployed, Sung made a quick descent to the planet surface. A large area of the planet was covered in dense forest. This would help keep them hidden. He gently set the Groove Station down in between trees. Once she was settled, he got out his tracker, and armed himself with his nunchucks. Who knew how dangerous this lion man could be?

Sung began to get ready, gathering his items and opening the door to the ship once the coast was clear. He began to step out, Havve following. Sung stopped and turned to face the bot. 

“I am heading out to look for him. I’ll have a communicator with me. I need you to stay here. I need you to keep an eye on the ship. Okay? I only have one personal cloaking device. You can’t come with me. I need to know if someone tries and come by the ship.” Sung said, motioning for Havve to go back into the ship. 

“I WILL MURDER ANYONE WHO COMES TO THE SHIP THAT IS NOT YOU.” Havve said rather coldly. Sung chuckled nervously. 

“Uh, let’s not deal with any more murder, okay? Okay good.” Sung shook his head and deployed his personal cloaking device, disappearing from view. Havve headed back into the ship, locking it up tight. 

Once Sung reached the edge of the forest, he pulled out his tracker again. A small map of the area could be pulled from satellites in the area. The signal was coming from a warehouse about a thousand feet away. He broke into a jog, hurrying forward to the warehouse. It was a small white and grey building with a single space ship parked out front. The ship was big enough for a small cargo load, a sleeper cabin, and the cockpit. Sung crept up around the side of it, the signal was going crazy. This was his ship. 

“Must be inside….” Sung whispered. He wondered what was in the warehouse, as it was unmarked. He crept toward the door, keeping himself cloaked. The door was unlocked. He pushed it open, and walked inside. 

The inside of the warehouse looked about like what you’d expect; wall to floor shelving of whatever products were being stored. This warehouse was filled with rows and rows of cages. The products however, were making quite a bit of noise, and what was even worse, is that the product the warehouse contained was highly illegal. Funkadelic fumigare; funk producing creatures that were rare to find one of, let alone an entire warehouse of them. The fluid they secreted was used to enhance the mind, and led the individual to a high where they could see colors not seen before to them, and allowed for them to feel a groovy rhythm down deep in their soul. This seemed to be a farm. The liquid was being collected, but so were the creatures. It was very strange. Sung heard a noise from the warehouse other than the soft warbles of the creatures. The lion man was loading crates of the creatures onto a forklift down a few rows. 

Sung removed his personal cloaking device, and hurried to approach the man. His footsteps were silent as he approached, tapping the man on the shoulder. The man turned around and growled, hand moving to the blaster on his hip. He pulled it out with considerable quickness. 

“Look, bud, I don’t know who you are, but you really shouldn’t be here. This is private property.” He snarled, pointing the blaster at Sung’s face, “I wanna know how the hell you got in here.” 

“Whoa, um. No hostility please. I need you to hear me out. Also, the front door was unlocked, I just walked in.” Sung cleared his throat, “My name is Doctor Sung. I am recruiting people for my cause. You happen to be the one I would like to recruit.” The lion man gave a hearty laugh, shaking his head, his mane shifting to and fro. 

“That’s fucking hilarious, bud. I’m in the middle of something. Get the fuck out, or I’ll take you out myself. It won’t be pretty.” He shook his head, waving the blaster in his face. 

“No I’m serious!” Sung said, balling his hands into fists, “Please. Just hear me out. I know it sounds crazy, but please, let me explain--”

“You know what, no. I’m not going to let you explain. I’m trying to work right now. I’ve got a delivery to finish, and I really need you to leave, so I can get back to work. I don’t really feel like killing you, so please, just go.” The Lion shoved his blaster back in his holster, and shoved past Sung, pushing the forklift out the bay doors. Sung followed after him. 

“H-Hey please!” Sung called, but it was too late. The lion had loaded the forklift onto his ship, and had shut it up tight. The engine roared to life as the ship began to lift off. Sung deployed his personal cloaking device, breaking into a sprint as he headed back towards the Groove Station. He unlocked the ship, turning off his cloaking device as he hurried on board. With the ship closed up, he started launch sequence. He had to follow that ship.


	4. Commander Meouch

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter contains non-permanent major character death and implied suicide.

"Shit! Shit! Shit!" Sung cursed, getting the ship airborne. He had to keep up. He couldn't afford to lose the lion man. He muttered more curses under his breath, getting the cloaked ship through to open space. He tailed the small cargo ship, keeping a steady distance. They were headed towards Kepler's Nova, a place with a reputation for being very square. The only problem with this area was that it was right behind a massive wormhole field.

"DOCTOR, NOT TO ALARM YOU, BUT WE ARE HEADING STRAIGHT TOWARDS A WORMHOLE FIELD." Havve stated, looking over the sensors.

"Yes, I know, Havve!" Sung yelled, hands tightening on the controls. "You may want to buckle up. This is going to be a bumpy ride."

Havve didn't move as they followed the ship into the wormhole field. The Lion's ship was able to quickly maneuver through the gravitational field of the wormholes, using them to his advantage. He had clearly traveled this path before. Sung on the other hand, had never been to Kepler's Nova despite having been alive for hundreds of thousands of years. He gripped the controls until he was white knuckled. As they passed by one of the larger entrances, Sung felt the ship start to slip out of impulse. He gasped, feeling the ship rattle and shake as the gravitational pull of the wormhole had grabbed them.

"NO!" Sung shrieked, flipping switches on the helm, "HAVVE! Full Power to impulse!! Hurry!" The bot moved as quickly as he was able to, reaching the support helm. He flipped a few switches, firing the impulse engines to full power. It wasn't enough. Before they knew it, the ship was pulled into the wormhole, spinning them around for a few moments before eventually evening out.

"Damn it!!" Sung slammed his fists down on the helm, sinking to the floor with a defeated sob. Havve stepped away from the support helm, moving to stand next to Sung.

"DOCTOR. I HAVE RUN A TEST ON THE DURATION OF THIS WORMHOLE. IT WILL BE SEVERAL HOURS BEFORE WE REACH THE OTHER SIDE, BUT WE SHOULD ARRIVE IN THE SAME COORDINATES AS HIS SHIP. HOPE IS NOT LOST, YET." Havve stated.

"If I could physically cry, I would be crying right now." Sung mumbled, not moving from his position on the floor, "You do not understand how important this is. If I knew my ship could make it through the wormhole field at the same speed as his ship, I'd go back in time until I got it right. But I can't not right now." Sung stood, brushing himself off.

"I need to go down to the medical lab for a little bit. Please stay up here and watch the bridge." Sung mumbled, walking out past the cyborg, and down to the lab. 

The lab was cold and dark. He hadn’t been down in the lab in months. He hadn’t had a need to go. He flipped the lights on, looking at how cold and sterile everything looked. He let out a sigh and walked over to the mirror in the corner. Slowly but surely, he took off his pylon, setting it on the table next to him. He stared at himself in the mirror. 

A mechanical mess started back at him. There was a mess of skin around his temples that connected flesh to metal. From the bridge of his nose up, in a jagged line, he was mechanical. Two camera like eyes with shutters stared back at him. His head was full of nuts, bolts, mechanical bits that made up his brain, memories, thoughts, and feelings. He let out a soft sigh, moving his hand to gently touch the whirring processors. He closed the camera shutter eyes, slowly, the most human way he could. He’d never be normal again, normal for Sung, at least. 

He moved to the side, getting the mechanical kit. He took off his pauldrons, keeping an eye on his prismatic core, making sure he didn’t jostle it too much as he got moving. He carefully unscrewed the casing to the core, stepping closer to the mirror to inspect the cavity. 

The core was made up of twelve interlocking parts, laced together to where they could overlap and move with him as he shifted. This core was his life force. If anything happened to it….well, let’s just say it would be best that it did not stop working. Sung gently slid a finger into the core, counting the different parts, making sure that they lay together correctly. Satisfied with how everything fit together, he screwed the casing back on, moving on to adjust some of the motherboards on his head. With a tiny screwdriver, he moved to tighten the screws around his cheekbones, wincing in pain as the skin beneath tightened and twisted with the screws. He made a soft noise of discomfort as he adjusted the screws by the bridge of his nose. He tucked the loose wires around his temples back against his ears, just barely attached to what was left of his face. 

Sung worked quickly to replace a few small bits and pieces of his processor. It was maintenance work that really needed to be done. He had been putting it off for months, and his core had suffered some minor damage in the recent time travel. Better to fix this now, than to have a crisis later. He finished screwing in one of the small pieces next to his temple, when he heard a shuffling noise behind him. He quickly dropped the screwdriver, grabbing his pylon and quickly moving to put it on his head. 

"I DIDN'T REALIZE THAT YOU WERE LIKE ME, DOCTOR." It was Havve, of course, the only other person on the ship, who seemingly had incredibly comedic timing. Sung let out a sigh, setting his pylon back down.

"I didn't feel it necessary to inform you." Sung muttered, picking the screwdriver back up, tightening any loose joints in his skull, if you could call it that.

"I COULD EXTEND THE SAME QUESTION TO YOU, DOCTOR. WHO CREATED YOU?" Havve asked, stepping further into the lab. That was a question that Sung was not prepared for. He stammered, lowering his hands from his head some.

"I was not created. I was repaired." Sung cleared his throat, suddenly a little choked up, "There was an accident. I should have died, but I was brought back like this. I was repaired. It's as simple as that."

"OUR MECHANICAL MAKE UP IS VERY SIMILAR. I WONDER IF WE WERE CREATED, OR REPAIRED IN YOUR CASE BY THE SAME PEOPLE." Havve stated, examining the top of Sung's head. "YOUR PROCESSOR IS NEWER THAN MINE. MORE ADVANCED."

"I'm glad we have something to bond over, but this stays secret. I do not want anyone knowing that I'm a mash up of mechanical parts. It's not something I'm proud of." Sung mumbled, setting the screwdriver down and affixing the pylon back to his head, hiding all the important bits. "How close are we to the end of the wormhole?"

"WE ARE ALMOST THERE." Havve informed, turning to go back to the bridge. "THOUGH, THE READINGS ARE OFF. YOU MAY WANT TO COME TAKE A LOOK."

"The readings are off...?" Sung hurried back up to the bridge, looking over the sensors. Havve was right. The readings were indicating that the end of the wormhole was just ahead and there was structural debris.

"Debris....we need to slow down some. Just in case." Sung reversed the thrusters, slowing the ship down as they exited the wormhole. Almost dead ahead was the remains of an exploded ship, as well as a ruined planet. Among the ruins of the ship was the lion man, floating without a spacesuit. Dead.

"Oh no....no no no no...." Sung gasped, hurrying towards the airlock. Havve stood guard on the bridge, as Sung closed the airlock doors behind him. One thing about being a cyborg is the ability of being able to survive in space without a suit. Once the cabin had been pressurized, Sung flung himself out the airlock, using the air jets on the back of his pauldrons to guide him towards the remains of the ship.

Space was so quiet. It was almost peaceful as it was cold and dark. The lion man seemed almost at peace, floating motionless. There was someone else there too; an alien of unknown origin. The alien was floating behind a piece of debris, hidden from the viewfinder of the ship. Sung decided that he'd check both of them out, find out the cause of death at least. The lion man was first. Once he got close enough, he found military tags around his neck. He turned them over in his hand, understanding quickly.

Commander Meouch.

How sad, Sung thought, to go out like this. Meouch's face was burned on the side, likely from the explosion. He appeared to have broken bones, likely from some sort of attack before the explosion. Sung pulled out his scanner, quickly scanning over the body. The official cause of death, per the scanner, was suffocation. What a horrible way to go, Sung thought. The ship was likely torn apart by the shock wave of the planet exploding. Sung sighed, going over to the other alien. This alien looked very strange. His skin, though frozen because of the cold in space, was a faint blue behind his helmet. He was dressed in red and gold armor. His eyes were closed as if he were just sleeping. As Sung got closer, he clutched his chest, hand tightening around his core. The alien had a blaster wound straight through his chest, going straight through. The blaster was still in his hand. Was this self-inflicted? Had the alien killed himself?

Sung was horrified. This scene was too much. He pushed off a piece of debris, heading back towards the ship. Once inside the airlock, the cabin pressurized, and he was able to get back inside the bridge. His hands were shaking. Havve was there to greet him.

"I have to fix this....I can't let them die....not like this." Sung made his way over to the Time Crystal, his motions deliberate and stern. Without hesitation, he put his hand on the orb, the other hand touching his core. "How long were we in the wormhole?" Sung asked.

"APPROXIMATELY TWO HOURS." Havve replied. Sung nodded, and tilted the orb, sending them back in time about an hour.

"There. That should be long....enough...." Sung muttered, looking up through the viewfinder. There was Commander Meouch's ship, smoking as the red clad alien was fighting his way into the cockpit with a long sword. Sung watched as the cockpit was pried open, and Meouch was thrown out into space, gasping for air as he slowly suffocated. Sung averted his gaze, watching as the planet began to buckle. He watched the red clad alien take the blaster from Meouch's belt, and take his own life.

"THE SHOCK WAVE FROM THE PLANET MAY CAUSE A PROBLEM FOR US, DOCTOR." Havve said, "WE MAY NEED TO EVACUATE."

"I have to go back further." Sung tilted the orb again, this time going back two hours. They jumped back, just as the planet's shock wave reached the wormhole field. Still cloaked, Sung watched as Meouch's ship headed out of the wormhole field and went to land on the planet. He let out a sigh of relief, slumping against the console.

"Finally...." Sung whispered, relief in his voice. "Let's go." Sung set a course, following the ship to the planet surface. As they entered the atmosphere, Sung was able to get a good look at the planet below. Desert. The entire planet was covered in sand and desert trees. The sun in this system beat down on the planet, leaving a very short night cycle, and huge long day cycles. It was much too hot to live on the surface. A quick scan of the planet indicated vast underground cities.

Meouch's landing site wasn't far from the entrance to one of these cities. Sung landed his ship a few hundred feet away, keeping a close enough proximity to keep an eye on the situation.

"I'm going out there. I'll be cloaked, just like the ship, but I will signal you like this--" Sung made a hand signal, "If I need help. Okay?"

"I ASSUME THAT YOU WILL DECLOAK YOURSELF BEFORE MAKING THAT HAND SIGNAL." Havve stated, tilting his head some. Sung waved his hand.

"Yes, yes I will don't worry." He grabbed his nunchucks, personal cloaking device, and blaster, just in case. He set it to stun before he stepped out of the ship, cloaking himself. It was hot, almost too hot. He could feel his processors churning, trying to keep cool from within his pylon. He couldn't be out in this sun for too long. Luckily, there was a bit of a rocky outcropping up ahead. He hurried through the dense sand to it, sliding down and into a shady patch. He was able to watch this meeting happen.

Meouch stepped out of his ship, opening up the cargo doors, getting out the forklift. It hovered above the sand almost perfectly, kicking up a few granules here and there. Another ship landed across from Meouch's. This ship was small, very beat up. It was in bad shape. A scraggly creature with the head of an alligator stepped out. Three more followed, clearly bodyguards for a captain.

"H'Laehth and Greetings, Commander." He spoke, his voice raspy and harsh.

"H'Laehth and Greetings. I have your shipment, as requested. Four containers of Funk, and eighteen Funkadelic fumigare, caged." Meouch said, pulling out a clipboard with the numbers on it. "Your total comes to 50,984 Klath. I hope you have exact change, because I've got no cash on me."

"Actually, we will not be paying." The alligator said, an almost smirk on his features.

"Uh. Dude. You kinda gotta pay before I can let you have any of this." The Commander stated. He was wary. His stance changed as the others stepped forward. This was going south, and fast.

The crew of alligators pulled blasters on Meouch, causing him to flee back behind the crates. He pulled him blaster out, just as the others started firing. Meouch fired back. One of the alligators fired a shot that barely missed Meouch's face, hitting one of the locks on the cage, causing the Funkadelic fumigare to become agitated. They rocked the cage, spilling over onto the ground. The cage now broken, all eighteen fled to the opening to the city, diving into the air vents that led to the surface. The ground started to rumble. Sung grasped hold of the rock next to him to keep from sliding any further. Meouch grabbed hold of his ship, unable to fire as the earthquake shook him. The alligators stumbled and fell, hurrying to get back on their ship, not without firing a few shots at Meouch's ship, rendering it nearly un-space worthy.

The other ship took off into the atmosphere, leaving Meouch on the planet, seemingly alone. The rumbling came to a stop after a few minutes, leaving Meouch dazed. He stood, dusting himself off. He turned to look at the damage that had been done. All of the funk was gone. Whatever had been milked from the creatures had been spilled into the sand. The creatures had mostly all escaped. There were only a few left, and those were supposed to be for other shipments. He grumbled a string a curses under his breath and went to go work on getting the thrusters working again, otherwise he'd never get off the planet.

As soon as Meouch got to work, a large bang rang out across the field. A bunker had opened up on the surface. Sung turned his attention to the noise, spotting a red clad alien slowly climbing out of an underground bunker.


	5. The Alien

Sung tensed, watching the alien's movements carefully. After what he had seen in space, he knew this alien was a looming presence. Sung heard Meouch grumble something, and start rummaging through his ship. Sung turned his attention back to Meouch, seeing him pull out a standard translator handheld unit. He let out a soft sigh, heading towards the hill just a few feet away. The alien had pulled out a scanner and was scanning the area in front of him. He was wearing golden armor, including the same helmet and ventilator, and jet pack that Sung had seen him wear in space.

"Hey!" Meouch called out, trying to get the alien's attention. The red clad alien turned towards the voice. He spotted Meouch and instantly his hand went to his hip, where a sword rested tucked into his belt. Meouch took a step back, putting his hands out in front of him.

"I'm not gonna hurt you bud, I just have some questions." He muttered, "What was that rumbling? The quake? Do you know what it was?" The alien tilted his head, clearly confused. Meouch cautiously handed over his translator. The alien took it just as cautiously, turning it over in his hands a few times. He punched a few buttons on the front, changing the input language to his own. The output would be common. Sung crept closer, keeping in the shade so his processors wouldn't fry in the sun. The sun was beginning to set, so they would have relief soon. The alien cleared his throat, holding the translator up to his ventilator.

"H'lae marubak y'lslv'iea." He spoke into the machine. The machine translated almost instantly. Sung was surprised. He hadn't heard that language in a very long time. High Y'valsh wasn't spoken anywhere but this planet. This alien must be some form of royalty.

"State your name and rank." The translator spat out. Meouch was taken aback by the firmness in his voice. For someone who spoke so quietly, Meouch was almost afraid by this tiny being. Maybe it was the sword tucked in his belt that made him more anxious.

"I am Commander Meouch from the federation of Kleath." He answered, giving the salute of his planet and federation class.

"State your purpose on my planet." The translator spat out again, the alien looking at Meouch with almost an accusatory stare.

"Delivery." Meouch stated, worrying his paws some, "It...didn't quite go as planned. I was fired upon, and my shipment escaped and I can only assume it fled underground."

"What was your shipment."

Meouch looked visibly uncomfortable. The alien's hand had moved to rest over his hip, right on top of his sword. Meouch swallowed hard, his own hand lowering to his hip where his holster lay. He cleared his throat before speaking.

"My shipment contained Funkadelic fumigare...."

There was a delay with the translator as it translated Meouch's words. Once the message had been translated, the alien visibly tensed. He turned his full attention to Meouch, raising his hand to point.

"You...." The translator read, "You are the one responsible!" The alien threw the translator unit to the ground, moving to draw his sword. Meouch turned around and bolted, heading back towards his ship.

"Ly'eth caleh y'llgnh!!! U'rhnji kalouth!!!" The alien shouted, the jet pack on his back starting up. He drew his sword, leaping off the hill, the jet pack keeping him airborne as he hurried towards Meouch.

Sung left the comfort of the shade, hurrying back to the ship. He uncloaks himself and waves frantically for Havve to come out. The cyborg sees the frantic display and hurries out.

"You get the red one. I'll get the lion." Sung instructs. "Let's go!" He hurried back towards the fray.

Meouch had barricaded himself inside his ship, desperately trying to get the engine powered up, but the damage was too much. The alien slammed himself onto the view screen, stabbing his sword into the glass, trying to break it. His jet pack turned off as he worked to break into the ship. He balanced himself the best he could, stabbing the glass over and over again with the weapon. Suddenly, he lost his balance when something grabbed his ankle. He let out a cry of surprise, turning to look. He raised his sword to attack, but the sword was pried from his hand. His arms were pinned to his sides. The alien thrashed, screaming out curses, spitting insults at his captor. Havve didn't mind, or care.

Sung rushed to the cockpit of the ship. The glass viewfinder was badly cracked, shattered in a few places. Meouch hadn't been more thankful to see someone come to his aid than he did right now.

"I have several questions," Meouch muttered, once the viewfinder had been opened, "like why you followed me, but I'm almost glad you did..."  
"Listen," Sung stated with urgency, "We have to get off this planet. The core of this planet is unstable. It will collapse. You have to come with me. There's no way your ship can survive in space, not in the shape it's in."

"As much as I'd like to disagree with you in regards to this, you're right. Viewfinder’s cracked, engine's busted. I can't make it out of the atmosphere, let alone through the wormhole field without a warp drive." Meouch muttered. "Let me get my things. Where's your ship?" 

"It's cloaked up on the hill." Sung pointed to the direction of the ship. "Havve will show you the way. We're taking the red one with us too."

"Wait...Wait are you crazy?! After he tried to kill me?! Bud, you're out of your mind." Meouch shouted.

"I can't just leave him on this planet to die!" Sung cried, gesturing. "Please hurry! Gather your things and meet me on the ship!" Sung jumped down from the broken ship, leaving Meouch to gather his personal items. The lion didn't have much. Just a bag with a few personal keepsakes, some spare clothes, and a bass guitar.

Sung informed Havve to take the screaming alien and Meouch back to the ship. Sung bolted up the hill to the bunker. The door was still wide open. He stepped inside and gasped. The bunker was not like any technology he had seen. It was incredibly advanced. The entire bunker was lit with faint bioluminescent plant life, presumably to keep oxygen in the air of the bunker. There were shelves full of food, books, blankets, water, and other necessities for survival, but who knew for how long? Sung grabbed one of the blankets from the bunker, throwing cans of food and water into the blanket. He spotted a small backpack near the back of the bunker. He grabbed that, and the guitar propped up against the wall next to it. He grabbed one of the small bioluminescent cacti and put it into the bundle as well. He wrapped up the blanket, grabbing the guitar and backpack, before he hurried out of the bunker. The ground had started to shake again.

Sung hurried towards the ship, even with unsteady footing. Havve had de-cloaked the ship, making it visible for him. He hurried up to the airlock with everything bundled in his arms. He hurried in, setting the bundle on the ground. He hurried to the controls.

"Please hold on tight, this is going to be a rough take off." Sung stated, putting the ship into gear. The ship took off, the feet getting stuck in the sand as the ship rocked to and fro, pulling up into the air. The ground beneath had started to crack and buckle. The alien gasped, breaking away from Havve to run towards the window. The ship broke through the atmosphere and into space. The planet below buckled, collapsing in on itself. Everyone watched as the planet collapsed, the shock wave following them as they fled into a wormhole. Everything he had ever known was gone forever.


	6. Lord Phobos

"DOCTOR, I HAVE CONFISCATED HIS WEAPON. UNLESS HE IS TRAINED IN SOME FORM OF MARTIAL ARTS, HE IS NO LONGER A DANGER TO ANYONE." Havve stated, motioning to the sword tucked away under Havve's arm. Sung nodded, watching the alien as he stepped away from the glass. It was difficult to tell what he was looking at through the mask. The alien pushed past Havve and walked into the empty bathroom. He shut the door, and the lock clicked on the door. Sung let out a soft sigh, putting his head in his hands. Everyone on the bridge flinched when there was a loud thud from the bathroom, followed by a loud, wailing sob.

Meouch sighed, but his sigh was more of relief than anything. He put himself in the corner of the bridge, opposite the hammock. He slumped down against the wall, hugging his knees to his chest.

"You really saved my fur there, bud." He mumbled to Sung. "Thanks."

"It was nothing." Sung replied, giving a small smile, "I should go check on our new addition."Sung headed to the door of the bathroom, giving it a firm knock. There was no answer.

"Hey there." Sung whispered, against the door, "I heard a big thump, I just wanted to make sure that you were okay." There was still no response. 

"Keep in mind, I had to use a translator to talk to him. I don't think he knows common tongue." Meouch said, still sulking in the other room. Sung sighed. He swallowed hard and turned back to the door.

"You will need to forgive my accent but, H'laeth Mukarnash." He said. There was a surprised noise from the other side of the door.

"You speak my language? No outsiders speak my language..." He mumbled, speaking slowly, though his voice was obviously choked up.

"I'm not your typical outsider." Sung replied, sinking down so he could sit on the floor. "I'm very well versed in many languages. I can speak any language I put my mind to."

"You are strange, for a kidnapper." The alien muttered.

"I wouldn't say that we kidnapped you. I'd say that we rescued you. Are you hurt? I'm a doctor of sorts. I could check and make sure that you're not injured."

"I'm not hurt, I don't think. Bruised a little maybe. My soul is more hurt than my body." He replied.

"That's understandable considering what you've been through." Sung said, sighing softly, "Will you let me in? I'd like to talk face to face." Sung said, giving the door a try. The room went quiet. There wasn't any movement from the inside for a few seconds. Soon the lock clicked.

Sung waited a few moments before he pushed the door to the bathroom open. The room was fairly small, really only built for one or two people to use. It had a single space toilet in the wall, a sink across from it, and a small single person shower. The floor was tile, and Sung had decorated with a few plush rugs he had acquired on a recent trip out of the solar system.

(art done by agentduckorico on tumblr: <https://agentartorico.tumblr.com/post/168151041384/this-just-in-i-did-an-art-again-this-time-it-was> )

The small red alien sat in the corner, curled up. His knees were pulled to his chest. His helmet lay beside him, his long blond hair matted around his face and ears. Only the red emergency light was on overhead. Sung reached over and went to turn on the light. As soon as it came on, the alien hissed and shrieked, covering his face. Sung quickly turned off the light, plunging the room back into darkness.

“I’m so sorry, are you okay?” Sung asked, kneeling down. “I guess you’re really sensitive to light.”

“We grew up underground, so yes, bright lights hurt our eyes quite a bit.” He said, rubbing at his eyes. His eyes were solid white, completely pupil-less. His skin was blue, splotched with a purple color. His skin glowed ever so slightly, mixing with the faint red light that lit the room. His hair hung down past his shoulders, matted around his tear stained face. He sniffed a little, rubbing at his nose. His features were very delicate.

"Well, now that you can see, tell me about yourself." Sung said, sitting down on the floor, back against the door. The alien cleared his throat.

"My name is Lord Phobos, crowned prince of Y’vali, not that it matters now." He pulled his knees to his chest, tears starting to fall from his eyes again. Sung frowned, reaching over to grab some tissues. He handed them over to Phobos, who took them without much of a word. "My planet is gone..." Phobos mumbled, "Everyone is gone....Why did you save me? Why didn't you let me go down with the rest of my people?" Sung was silent for a few moments, processors churning as he tried to think of the best way to answer his question. 

"That is a difficult question to answer." Sung said softly, "The truth is complicated and difficult to explain, but...I wasn't going to just let you die. You were in that bunker for a reason. You were saved from the accident for some reason. I'd like to think that reason was fate."

"Fate is just something made up to make people feel better about certain happenstance." Phobos said, voice soft, "It's just an idea. It doesn't mean that it's true."

"That may be the case for some." Sung shifted his position some, leaning a bit closer to Phobos, "But that doesn't mean that others can’t believe that fate is a thing that exists. There is a reason you're here. The truth is harsh. You've been through enough. I will spare the details, but you belong here. You were saved for a reason. That reason will become clear soon enough."

"If you say so." Phobos mumbled, wiping his eyes and nose with the tissues, "I will choose to believe you for now."

"I thank you for that." Sung smiled at him, "Listen, I know this is tough, but I can relate a little to how you're feeling. My family died shortly after we left the planet. I've been adrift in space in this space ship for centuries. Ever since they've gone, I've been trying my best to find a cure for what killed them....for what killed my entire species. You're not alone in this, Lord Phobos.

"I am not saying that it's going to be easy. It never is. Loss is an emotion that you have to let yourself feel. Grieve. It's okay to be sad. I spent almost 100 years mourning." Sung reached out and gently patted Phobos' shoulder, "It's not easy, but I'm here for you."

"Thank you." Phobos mumbled, keeping his head low, "I just wish I hadn't seen it, you know? It's almost better not knowing what happened." Sung's smile faded.

"There....There is a way, however...I'm reluctant." Sung stated, folding his hands in his lap, "I do have a way to erase your memories. I could change it to where you don't remember what happened to your people...to your planet. You would just have whatever memories you had prior to being in the bunker. There would be a gap in your memory." As Sung explained, Phobos' color shifted from blue to blue with green splotches. The change was almost undetectable, but with the sensitive lenses in Sung's eyes, he was able to pick up on even the slightest changes to the color pattern shifting through Phobos' skin. He seemed uncomfortable by the idea.

"No." Phobos mumbled, shaking his head. "No. I'm not going to ask you to do that. It'd be too much. Too confusing." He sighed quietly. "There is something that I'd like you to do though."

"What's that?" Sung asked, leaning forward some. Phobos' colors shifted back towards blue, with splotches of red. Subtle anger 

"That beast....that beast that destroyed my planet must be punished." Phobos' voice took a dark turn, eyes narrowing. Sung sighed softly.

"Oh boy, okay so...." Sung gently explained what happened. He explained that Meouch had been stood up by a client; that he was just a delivery boy for a bigger company. "What happened was truly an accident. The Commander just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time with the wrong items on board. He's out there on the bridge sulking because he feels guilty. You can see it all over his face." Phobos was quiet, the splotches of red on his face fading back into what appeared to be his normal blue color.

"Just because it was an accident doesn't mean that I forgive him. My entire history, all of the people I was set to rule...just gone. Just like that." Phobos sighed, resting his chin on his knees, "I need some time."

"And that's completely understandable." Sung said, moving to stand, "You can have one of the bedrooms on the ship. It'll be dark and quiet in there. I'll bring you a box of tissues and some extra blankets too. It's a bit cold on the ship compared to how warm your home was."

"Thank you. That's very kind of you. It's odd....how nice you are considering you don't know me." Phobos stood, pulling his hair back from his face. He wrapped it into a bun on his head and slid his helmet back on, shielding his eyes.

"I do the best that I can, all things considered. You catch more bugs with honey than you do vinegar. It's easier to be nice than mean." Sung pushed the bathroom door open, leading Phobos down the hall to one of the bedrooms. "Here you are." He pushed the door open to the bedroom. It was a bare bones sort of space. The room was empty save for a bed, a large picture window, and a small table. Phobos stepped past him, into the room, and Sung shut the door with a soft click.

Sung turned and returned to the bridge, this time turning his attention to the lion in the corner.

"You can relax. I don't think Lord Phobos will be trying to kill you any time soon." Sung gave Meouch a pat on the shoulder. The lion flinched at the touch, growling a little.

"Yeah okay, bud, whatever you say. I'm not even super concerned with that right now. I'm more concerned with the fact that my ship, my shipment, and every bit of money I had to my name is gone down the drain into dust by a crumbling planet." Meouch growled, glaring at Sung, "I'm also a bit miffed that you followed me. That's not cool, bro."

"It was necessary. You didn't believe me at first, and I had to make sure that I got you on this side. I had to go through a lot to get here." Sung sighed, sitting down in the captain's chair. He swiveled around to face Meouch. "Really. It's a long story, but you wouldn't listen to me before."

"Of course I didn't believe you, you were spouting nonsense like a madman! What made you think I was just going to drop everything I worked so hard for just to join up with you?" Meouch spat, shifting his position some on the floor, "Seriously, do you think I'm stupid?" "Not at all." Sung replied, shaking his head. "If you won't believe my words, I can show you." He stood, motioning for Meouch to do the same. Reluctantly, the lion stood from the ground, following Sung over to the blanket covered orb on the ship's dashboard.

"This was a gift from my people. It's a Time Crystal. This allows us to be able to look into the future, the past, different timelines, and other various incarnations of ourselves. We can also travel through time." Sung looked back at Meouch, pointing to the current spot on the orb. "Time can go forwards, backwards, side to side, diagonal. Any direction that this orb can spin, I can go in time. Side to side directs me to different timelines, and forward and back take me forward and back in time." He gently tilted the orb forward, showing images that lit up across the view screen. "This is the future. This is why I needed you." He pointed to the view screen, watching Meouch's mouth drop open as he watches himself, playing bass on stage with Sung, Havve, and even Phobos, all of them looking overjoyed and excited. The hall was completely full with people dancing and singing along. Meouch took a step back, sinking down into the captain's chair.

"Damn..." He whispered, eyes wide. Sung can't help but grin.

"You can have one of the other bedrooms on the other side of the hall. Havve is in the basement, I'm out here, and Phobos has a room now on the other side of the hall. You should get some rest." Sung patted Meouch's shoulder, letting him stand. "That's not a bad idea." Meouch sighed, getting up. He grabbed his things, slinging his bag over his shoulder as he headed to the other side of the hall, disappearing into one of the bedrooms. Sung slumped some, processors whirring as he processed all this new information.

"DOCTOR." Havve spoke up. He had been quiet for quite some time, "YOU SHOULD TAKE LORD PHOBOS HIS BELONGINGS."

"You're right. I'm sure that will help him. I need to give him extra blankets and pillows too." Sung went to the hall closet, getting out several blankets and a few pillows. He grabbed the bundle of items as well, going to knock on Phobos' door.

"Come in." He called from inside. Sung slowly stepped inside, being mindful not to let too much light in. The room was dark. Sung shut the door behind him, his core lighting up the area around him.

"I brought you some blankets. I also brought you a few things you might appreciate." Sung said, setting the blankets and pillows down on the ground near the bed. He pulled out the blanket from the bunker and opened it up, spilling the contents over the fresh linen sheets. Phobos gasped, hurrying over and looking over everything. The supply of food would remind him of home for a good while, as well as the plants, and even the blanket itself. Phobos felt tears come to his eyes again. He picked up the plant and held it gently in his hand, fingers gently brushing over the leaves. "There was this too." Sung said, handing Phobos the explorer guitar. The alien gasped, eyes wide. He reached out for it with shaky hands.

"You saved it....you saved my guitar...." He whispered, tears streaming down his cheeks. "I thought it was gone forever...."

"I went into the bunker after I had Havve take you to the ship. I wanted to grab as many things that I could because I knew that you wouldn't see them again if I didn't." Sung smiled, "Anyway I'll leave you to it." Sung went to turn towards the door, when suddenly Phobos set down the guitar and threw his arms around him, hugging him tightly.

"Thank you....Thank you so much." He whispered into his shoulder, sniffing softly. "You didn't have to do that for me." Sung smiled, hugging him back.

"It was the least I could do, considering the circumstances." Phobos let go of Sung, stepping back to gather himself.

"I think that...In memory of my people, from here moving forward, I will no longer speak. I am taking a vow of silence until the day I die." Phobos whispered, "My language died with my people. You are the only one who speaks it. This language dies with my people. In their memory, I will keep silent. Silently mourning them."

"I will do my absolute best to accommodate you. I'll make you a universal translator, so you don't have to worry about ever being lost in conversation. There's already one on this ship, so you'll be able to understand the rest of us." Sung grinned, gently patting Phobos' arm. "Sound good to you?" He asked. Phobos nodded. 

"That sounds wonderful. Thank you for all that you've done for me. Your kindness will always be remembered." Phobos closed his eyes and sighed deeply. When he opened his eyes, he gave a slight smile to Sung, giving a little wave. Sung gave a little bow out of respect, turning to leave the now silent prince to his belongings.


	7. The Doctor

With the small lord left to his devices, Sung headed back to the bridge. He stood at the helm, setting a course for Earth. He stretched his arms up over his head, going to sit in the hammock.

"WERE YOU ABLE TO GIVE LORD PHOBOS HIS BELONGINGS?" Havve asked suddenly making an appearance on the bridge. Sung jumped some, letting out a sigh.

"Yes, I was able to give him his things. He was very happy I was able to save his guitar. He seemed particularly attached to it." Sung said, yawning. Havve stepped close, tilting his head some.

"I CAN HEAR YOUR PROCESSORS CHURNING, DOCTOR. YOU NEED TO REST." Havve stated, "I WILL WATCH THE BRIDGE. I WILL WAKE YOU AT THE SLIGHTEST VARIATION TO OUR COURSE."

"That's very kind of you, Havve. I just may go ahead and rest. Thank you." Sung watched as Havve stood and looked out the viewfinder as space passed by quickly. Sung closed his optical ports, relaxing as his processors slowed, and the dream processor kicked in.

In his dreams, Sung was whole, mechanical parts gone. He stood on stage in front of a sold out crowd. He looked to his left and right, seeing Phobos and Meouch, dancing alongside of him with the music. He glanced back, seeing Havve as well, jamming out on the drums. Everyone in the crowd was singing along and dancing. Not a single person looked bored. Just as he was about to start singing again, his dream processor shut down, signaling his processors that he needed to wake up. 

Sung’s optical ports opened, and he was greeted with darkness. He sat up, looking around. He saw the glowing lights of Havve’s eyes first. His camera eyes quickly adjusted for the lack of light. 

“What happened to the lights?” Sung asked. 

“LORD PHOBOS REQUESTED TO TOUR THE SHIP. THE LIGHTS WERE TOO BRIGHT, SO I TURNED THEM OFF.” Havve stated, voice booming through the bridge. 

“Okay, makes sense. Can you turn them back on?” Sung asked. The lights slowly rose to their normal level. 

“DOCTOR, I DID NOTICE SOMETHING PECULIAR ABOUT OUR COURSE. WE ARE HEADING BACK TO THE BLUE PLANET.” Havve looked over the sensors before looking back at Sung. The cyborg had pulled himself out of the hammock, and was standing and stretching some. 

“That’s correct. We’re going back there because that’s where we are set to live. On that beautiful, beautiful planet. We’re going to start a band, and help the people of Earth keep boredom away.” Sung put his hands on his hips, grinning widely. “Besides, I’ve been time traveling my entire life. I know what I’m doing, and I know this is going to work because I’ve seen it.” 

“YOU ARE VERY CONFIDENT, DOCTOR.” Havve stated rather plainly, shaking his head, “WHAT MAKES YOU THINK THAT THE PEOPLE THERE ARE GOING TO JUST ACCEPT US?”

“We have the Time Crystal.” Sung pointed to the orb covered with the blanket, “This will help us pick the right interdimensional timeline for us to hop into. This will be one where we are already established with a band, a home, and a gathering. We’ll be all set!” The sensors beeped. “Speaking of a new home, we’re here! Go get Meouch and Phobos please!” 

Within a few minutes, the four of them were gathered on the bridge. Phobos had his helmet on to block out the light. Meouch had just woken up from what presumably was a catnap. He yawned and scratched his mane. 

“Hmmmnn, what’s this?” he asked, looking at the planet in front of them. The planet was….very different. This was very far in the future. The planet was deserted, covered in vast forests and deserted wastelands. 

“This is Earth. Our new home.” Sung said proudly, grinning. 

“This?” Meouch said, pointing to the screen, “This looks like a hell scape. How are we going to survive?”

“Meouch, if you would kindly keep your rude comments to yourself. We’re very far forward in time. We need to go back in time for us to be able to see exactly what we’re going for. Okay? Okay.” Sung cleared his throat, “We will be traveling back in time to a point where the four of us are already established. We are changing the course of history!” Sung yanked the blanket off the Time Crystal. 

“Everyone hold onto something.” Sung mutters, putting one hand on his core and the other on the crystal, “This may be a bit disorienting. Sorry about that.” He tilted the orb back, eyes focusing on the orb. Outside, the planet began to shift. Time was passing quickly, various events happening on the planet as quick as the blink of an eye. Soon, they were in the target year, 2012. The planet was lit up with small lights all over parts of the globe. Cities lit up the darkness. Sung sighed. This timeline wasn’t good. He tilted the orb to the left, cycling through the next timeline. Also bad. Next. Also bad. He began to shake, cycling faster and faster through timelines. 

Meouch, Phobos, and Havve exchanged a worried glance. Meouch reached out and gently touched Sung’s shoulder, making him suddenly stop the timeline hop. 

“You okay there bud?” Meouch asked, concern in his voice. 

“Y-Yeah I’m fine...Sorry.” Sung muttered. 

“Don’t apologize, It’s fine.” Meouch cleared his throat, looking up at the planet ahead of them. It was night time in the northern hemisphere. The sun had just set. “So is this the one?”

“I believe so.” Sung whispered, stepping back from the orb. The ship’s sensors beeped and clicked, indicating the next steps. Sung followed the course and signal from the timeline. Behind them, another machine began to creak and grind. 

“Uh….” Meouch turned to look at the source of the noise, “What’s that?”

“That is the timeline keeper. Or at least that’s the name I call it. It creates documents and makes things to ensure that the timeline that we are entering into is correct, and that we have what we need to pick up from where we left off. We will not have the memories of the previous timeline, but we will be picking up their lives. It’s very complicated, but trust me it will work. We will seamlessly integrate with life on Earth, as this timeline has already done so. We are heading towards the house right now.” Sung explained, watching as the machine spat out four house keys, passports, visas, and other international documents. It also spat out four wallets with spending money. 

Once the ship had entered the atmosphere, Sung guided it down to a small suburban neighborhood in Toronto, Ontario Canada. The ship fit perfectly in the yard, landing in perfect indents from where the ship had been previously in this timeline. 

“Alright, everyone out!” Sung grinned, handing everyone the appropriate wallets, passports, and house key. With items loaded up, they headed into the house. The house looked like someone had been living there, but was deserted. “According to this,” Sung said, holding up a piece of paper that the machine had also printed out, “Phobos is in the attic, Meouch and myself are on the second floor, and Havve is that door over there. It’s late, so we should probably get some rest. We’ll have to go shopping for food tomorrow.” 

“Alright, bud.” Meouch said, giving a little hand gesture. “See you in the morning.” Both Meouch and Phobos headed upstairs, Phobos going up into the attic room, and Meouch going into his bedroom. Havve wandered off into the corner bedroom, going to put himself on his charger. Sung smiled brightly, heading for the stairs. He clicked the lightswitch off and headed upstairs. 

“Goodnight everyone.”


	8. Doctor Sung (Epilogue)

"Star log 95, Date 6245.91. It's Doctor Sung again. Sorry it's been so long since I've spoken with you. Time is weird. It's been approximately four years since we've arrived on Earth, and nine years since we've been officially established as a band. As I said, time is weird. It's really been quite the adventure! Everyone is doing very well. Havve is by far the best drummer I could ever ask for. He keeps time better than anyone I know, and is always there when you need him. He's a great helper too. He helped me replace one of my processor units when it started to fail. It's extremely helpful that the two of us have almost identical parts. Havve knows his processors in and out, and I know mine, and they're nearly identical. It's really cool!

"Meouch is doing well too. He's the funkiest bass player I've ever seen, and I've seen a few in my days. He claims he got super funky after recovering from a funk addiction in his youth. It only takes one funk shake to make someone seriously funky. I'm glad to see he put the addition to good use and made music. It helps. He's still getting over what he did to Phobos' planet. I think he still blames himself, even though there's really nothing he could have done. It really wasn't his fault, and I remind him of that whenever I can tell he's feeling bad about himself.

"Phobos has.....been better. I sometimes think that his vow of silence took more than just his words from him. He's very quiet. He taught himself sign language, and we've been using that to communicate with him. I made everyone learn and we surprised him. The smile on his face was the most precious thing I've ever seen. It had been months since I had seen him smile. New personal goal: Get Phobos to smile more. He literally glows when he smiles.

"As for myself, I've been doing a lot of soul searching. I've been thinking a lot about what it means to be who I am. When we are born, we are called the Star Children, as it is our goal to protect the stars. We have a little bit of the stars inside of us, and we as a people strive to protect that. We are all made up of star stuff to some degree. When I had the accident, I thought I had failed. The kind gentleman who fixed me up thought differently. When he woke me up from that deep, deep sleep, I thought the universe had collapsed around me. There I was, fixed, repaired. My memories had been transplanted from my damaged brain to my new memory cores. My eyes replaced by sensitive cameras, a feed directly leading back to my main processor to process the images real time. My heart was replaced with this core. He had repaired me to where I could travel properly through time. It was truly a miracle. I remember feeling hopeless. Stuck. After boredom took my family, I didn't think I had any chance. Yet here I was; still alive. Still kicking, both literally and figuratively. I’ve gone through so much to get to this point. I’ve collected the best group of people in the entire universe to spend my life with. These guys are the best friends a cyborg could ask for.

"I should leave off here. We're getting ready to go on tour. We're packing up the house and getting everything ready to go. I can't believe we've gotten to this point. It's amazing. Time is amazing. Earth is amazing. Anyway, thank you. Thank you for listening. I know it's silly to thank something for listening, but I have a feeling that somewhere, they're listening. And if they are...well....mothers, I miss you dearly. Wherever you are, just know you are remembered with every fiber of my being. Sung out."


End file.
